Our Agency Could be Better If…

January 16, 2016 / No Comments

This is the fundamental question, the answer to which will help you move your agency forward. Once you have that answer, ask yourself “Over the past 12 months, what has it cost to do nothing about this situation?”

Agencies often contact Agency ADvisor in search of an independent, third party opinion, to provide answers to these questions.

Almost always, after working with an agency, the principals will tell me “You don’t know what you don’t know until you learn what you didn’t know.” In other words, most of the time, you are too entrenched in your agency to see the big issues and determine how to improve.

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When to walk away from a new business prospect

November 13, 2015 / No Comments

There are times, especially during these lean times in the advertising/design business, that we take on business just because it is cash flow. It sure is nice to have the cash flow, but are we really helping or hurting the business of the firm?

Pursuing business is a difficult and time consuming. Winning the business can be rewarding and the potential of additional income is always a plus. However, for the sake of keeping a healthy shop, we sometimes need to learn to walk away from potential new business. Continuing to pursue mismatched clients can be harmful to moral as well as the bottom line of a firm.

Seven reasons to turn and run from a prospective client:

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It’s Time to Start Stopping

October 18, 2015 / No Comments

Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

The hardest type of change is stopping behaviors that have become habits. Here are Five Stops that will help you grow your agency and become more profitable and less stressful.

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Recognize the Difference between Cash Flow and Profit

September 22, 2015 / No Comments

While I know that this topic may be very basic to many of you, I recently had a lengthy discussion with an agency principle explaining the difference between Cash Flow and Profit. This got me thinking that sometime we need to revisit the fundamentals to reinforce our foundation.

Too many agency principals think that just because they are getting checks for their work they must be profitable. The fact is, they are losing money—even though they have cash in the bank.

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I had a REALLY Bad Cold…Call!

August 12, 2015 / No Comments

Today we received a call at our offices that my partner Bart answered. The caller asked for me. Since I was not available, Bart asked if he could be of help.

The caller went on to explain what he was offering, which Bart explained to the caller that we were not interested.

The caller then restarted his sales spiel – from the beginning, again. Bart then told the caller we would contact him if we felt we needed his service after we visit their website. The caller said he would follow-up in a few days. Bart again said no, we’ll call you. The caller still insisted he would call us.

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